


Make It In America

by monstermetaphor



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Victorious (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:34:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24151408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermetaphor/pseuds/monstermetaphor
Summary: Basically a Victorious Au/fusion of All For The Game series
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd & Neil Josten, Neil Josten & Allison Reynolds, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 13
Kudos: 45





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Like 85% of the dialogue is direct quotes so credit goes to Nickelodeon. Also this is my first multi chapter fic and has a ridiculous convoluted premise, just bare with me :)!  
> tw for Neil having a panic attack

Neil put down the glue bottle he’d been using. “Let’s see, the bread mold.”

“Bread mold.” said his partner Ian.

Neil examined the module. “Furry.”

“Furry,” Ian repeated as he logged their data.

“Mushy.” 

“Mushy.” 

“Next, the fish mold.” Neil sighed and looked chagrined. 

“Fish mold.” replied Ian.

Neil felt the mold for a few seconds. “Spongy.”

“Spongy.” repeated Ian.

Neil gave the mold a sniff, and immediately regretted it. “Stinky.” Just then, his adopted sister Allison burst through the door.

“I AM SO UPSET!” she yelled as she strode towards them in towering platform sandals. “You won’t believe who I got partnered with for the big showcase!” 

“Who?” asked Neil, less than enthusiastically. He loved Allie, but she was also a bit of a drama queen. Although if he mentioned it, he knew she would call him a hypocrite. He didn’t get that. Sure, he’d once thrown his phone through a car window, attempted to burn all his identifying documents and bought three cans of hair bleach after the cashier at the Jamba Juice he went every weekend called him “Neil” before he checked out. Sure, he was more than willing to stand up to assholes at school, and sure, sometimes he stood up using more words then were strictly necessary, and was so thorough that said asshole was sent home crying more than a few times. He’d also tried to run away from home the first time Uncle Stewart had told Neil he was proud of him. Unfortunately this was when they were waiting in line for groceries, and he’d run out of the store holding a container of strawberries. Eventually they reconciled and Neil payed, but Alli still playfully teased him over it sometimes. But other than those few isolated events, how was he dramatic? 

Allison looked annoyed. “Mack Boyd! A tenth grader!”

“What’s the big showcase?” Ian asked. 

Neil had heard this from Allison a hundred times. “It’s a performance they put on at her school every year-“

Allison cut him off. “They invite agents and directors and producers and other super powerful people in show business and it extremely important which is why I am so upset!” “And,” she continued as she grabbed Ian by both shoulders and shoved him out the door “Good Bye!”

“Hey!” Neil exclaimed. “He and I have a science project due tomorrow! I’ll have to bring in my mold bush.”

Allison put her hands on her hips. “No! Mack is coming over and you gotta figure out what to do for the big showcase! I definitely wanna sing!” She played a few notes on their piano and sang, “Nyah!” She smoothed her dress. “How was that?” 

“Loud.” said Neil

Allison grinned. “Awesome!” 

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Ugh, he’s here.” Allison groaned. She walked to the door, her silver stilettos making musical sounds across the floor. “STAY!” She shouted through the door, before opening it. “Come in.” 

“Thanks,” said the boy. 

“Neil, that’s Mack.” Neil surveyed the other teen, curiously. He was dressed in a way that indicated he was wealthy, but otherwise his appearance was much more down to earth than he’d expect from someone who went to Hollywood Arts. 

“Matt.” He corrected Allison, then turned to Neil. “You go to Hollywood Arts too?” 

The question caught Neil off guard a little, but he recovered quickly. “Oh, no. I’m not a performer. Just my sister.” 

“Yup,” said Allison. “I’ve got the talent and he’s got the strong teeth.” She held Neil’s mouth open. “You know he’s never had one cavity?” 

Neil half smiled, as much as he could with Allison holding his jaw open. “I try not to brag about it.”

Allison batted him playfully on the shoulder as she pulled away. “You totally should! I mean if you were a regular person you shouldn’t, because it’d be basic and annoying. But I mean, you didn’t have access to dental care until like, three years ago, so your perfect teeth are truly a miracle.” 

Matt looked confused. “Aren’t you guys siblings? Wait, I though the Reynolds family only had one kid, Allison.” 

“We aren’t birth siblings.” said Allison. She looked at Neil, as if to say how much should I tell him? Neil shrugged. The bare minimum. “I was emancipated at 13, after overdosing on laxatives which my parents were found negligent for, among other things. I met Neil in school a little before then, he moved to L.A with his mom a few months before. Then his mom died and his Uncle Stewart adopted him, and we were best friends so me coming along just made sense.” 

Matt nodded, seeming to take Allison’s loose timeline at face value. “Cool.” He walked over to the piano. “Oh, nice piano!” He played a short melody. 

“Oh my god,” exclaimed Neil. “You’re fantastic!”

“He’s okay.” said Allison. 

“What’s that smell?” asked Matt. He sniffed Neil’s hand, and wrinkled his nose. 

“Fish mold.” said Neil, pulling away. He was a lot better with touch than he’d been a few years ago, but still somewhat avoided it with everyone but Allie and Uncle Stewart.

~

It’d been five days since Allison and Matt’s first practice. They were in there yard, and Matt was talking on the phone. 

“No, grandma listen. There’s no way you can drown at my school!” 

“YOU’RE NOT GONNA FALL IN A TOILET!” screeched a voice on the other line, loud enough that Neil could hear from half a foot away. 

“What-Look, I gotta - I - I’LL CALL YOU LATER!” He put his phone in his jacket pocket, looking completely done. 

“Your grandmother’s gonna go to the Big Showcase?” asked Neil, mostly to pass the time as they waited for Allison to get ready. 

Matt nodded. “Yeah, it’s gonna be the first time she left her house in six years.”

“Why?” inquired Neil. 

“‘Cause the woman’s afraid of everything!” Matt said emphatically, gesturing wildly with both hands. “People, umbrellas, Rabbis, bikinis, breakfast foods.”

“So...” Neil said slowly. “If she saw a Rabbi in a bikini eating pancakes...”

Matt looked grave. “The woman would burst into flames.” 

“You guys, come on!” Allison called from inside the house. 

“Back to rehearsal.” said Neil. 

“Let’s Go.” Matt agreed.

~ 

Allison came down the stairs, wearing a light blue dress till mid thigh and sky high platform sandals several shades darker blue. “So? What do you think?” She turned around slowly. “Fabulous, right?” Matt whistled and Neil smiled. He didn’t really know anything about clothes, but he knew Allie did. 

“Alright,” said Allison. “So, let’s start with my song.”

Matt frowned. “And by your song, I’m guessing you mean the song that I wrote.”

“No one cares who wrote the song!” Allison laughed. “Now, go!” 

~ 

Neil was in the audience for Hollywood Arts High School’s big showcase, when an elderly woman with wide, terrified eyes took a seat next to him. 

“Oh,” said Neil. “Hey, your Matt’s grandmother?”

“I don’t know you!” the woman exclaimed, then tried to hide under her seat. 

A curly haired woman walked down the aisle, pausing in front of Neil and Uncle Stuart’s seats. “Excuse me,” she addressed Stuart, are you Allison’s guardian? 

“Yes,” said Stuart. “Why?”

“Please come with me.”

~ 

Allison screamed. The sound that came out was garbled by a pink fleshy thing around her mouth. 

The woman - who’d mentioned her name was Abby on her way backstage - looked panicked. “Just-just keep your mouth open!” she said to Allison. 

“Tha so aughting” was what Neil thought he heard Allison say. 

“Allison! What happened?” exclaimed Stuart. 

“Does anybody know what happened?” said another man, who must have been the principal. 

Suddenly, Neil remembered. “Chinese herb gargle!”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” asked Stuart. 

“Uh,” said Neil. “Allie found this website that shows you how to make a special Chinese herb gargle to help you sing better.” 

“Well,” said Abby matter of factly, “she must have had some sort of allergic reaction to it.”

“Will she be okay?” asked Neil anxiously.

“Well,” said Abby, examine Allison, “her tongue is obviously engorged and.. oh, it’s throbbing erratically.”

“rubing hatticatally?” exclaimed Allison.

“Of course, there’s no way she’ll be able to perform today.” 

Allison made a series of sounds very rapidly.  
“Stop taking!” said the principal.

“Your tongue could burst!” agreed Abby.  
Allison looked incredulous.

“I’m sorry sweetheart.” said Stewart “Next year.”

“Glrb glrb glurb!” Allison responded angrily.

“I’m gonna take her over here,” said Abby, pulling Allison gently by the shoulder, “and message her tongue.”

“Massage ma tolgue?” asked Allison, but Abby was surprisingly strong and steered her to the far corner backstage. 

Matt, who had been waiting backstage with Allison, looked said. “Guess my grandma came here to nothin’.” 

“Wait.” said the principal, in a commanding tone. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. “Does anyone else know Allison’s part?”

“Her brother does.” said Matt, with a grin. Neil looked up to find everyone staring at him with similar expressions on their faces. 

“Me brother?” He asked, keeping his voice neutral but only just. He thought about how many people were in the audience, how singing in front of a large audience was dangerous and went against everything his mother had ever told him, and even aside from that just the thought of performing in front of all those people...”No,” he said, neutrality slipping from between his fingers like sand. “No, no, no. I just helped them rehearse, I’m not even a student there I couldn’t go onstage..” Suddenly he had trouble breathing. Then Uncle Stuart was there, gripping onto the back of his neck in a way they’d learned together helped ground Neil from his panic attacks. 

“Neil, you have to do this for your sister.” he said, once Neil had calmed down.

“You know this whole thing inside and out..” said Matt. “The song, the choreography... you can do this.” There was a lot of muttered agreement and nodding from other students and staff present. 

“He said he’ll do it!” One kid exclaimed. 

“No,” said Neil. “No, I did not say I’d do it.”  
Although there was little panic, and no actual resistance in his voice anymore. 

“He can not go on stage wearing that.” someone said, he wasn’t sure who. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” He asked, looking down at himself. He was wearing his favorite pair of gray sweats. Everyone either didn’t hear or ignored the question.

“Go get him something cool to wear!” said the principal emphatically. Neil sighed. 

~ 

Andrew was seated in the audience. Well, more like he was reclining across his own chair, while his combat boots were planted on top of Kevin’s currently vacant seat. His “date” was currently on stage, performing an original skit for his part in the big showcase. Andrew closed his eyes and hummed to himself, not seeing Kevin’s face or hearing the full effect of his words (not that he needed to, he knew them by heart). It was interesting, he mused, how Kevin’s voice was so soothing when removed from his usual dictatorial tone, or his less frequent but infinitely more annoying impassioned speeches. Both tended to have the same subject matter these days, but Andrew didn’t want to think about that. 

The audience broke into tremendous applause. Andrew clicked the heels of his boots together, slowly, as Kevin made his way down the aisle. Andrew lifted his feet briefly to let him sit, then propped his booted feet up on Kevin’s legs. “Well?” Kevin asked.

Andrew was bored, and said as much. Kevin looked furious. “I don’t know why that bothers you.” Andrew said. “Your the one who went on and on about how little talent ‘most everyone at our school has during most of this. And I know you don’t doubt your own abilities because of my lack of enthusiasm.” 

“That’s besides the point.” responded Kevin. “I thought if anything, seeing a scene form this play would —“ 

Andrew pressed a hand to Kevin’s mouth. As he did, he couldn’t help but revel in the soft feel of them, which made him wonder about another thing altogether. Annoyed, he let go. “The play is irrelevant.” Kevin made a small sound of disbelief, but before he could say anything the next student came onstage. Andrew was immediately put on guard, so much so that he shifted to a more appropriate viewing position. His memory was nearly perfect, and he’d taken great pains to know the face of every student and staff member at Hollywood Arts. This boy, he’d never seen before. Even if his memory had been far worse, this wasn’t exactly a forgettable face. The boy was very attractive; with curling auburn hair and big eyes and those legs... he wondered if Nicky had chosen his outfit, which was a loose black, silky shirt with a blue color and very tight, sparkly black pants. If he had, Andrew wasn’t sure if he appreciated his cousin more or less for the effort. 

“Who is that?” Kevin asked, also staring at the new boy. 

“No idea.” Andrew said through gritted teeth. 

Kevin frowned. Some people, not Andrew, but someone very different from him might say the crease between Kevin’s eyebrows was adorable.  
“He looks...” Kevin trailed off. Andrew looked at him.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just thought he looked familiar, that’s all.” Kevin shook his head as if to clear it. Andrew decided to ask him about that later. Just then, the boy started to sing. The song itself was as stupid as most of the others in his opinion, all cheesy repetition about making things shine and achieving dreams and all that nonsense. Or it was nonsense to him, anyway. Nicky would joke about his “more-jaded-than-thou, goth cousin”. Aaron would say something snide about his “more-self-destructive-than-thou, insane twin” in retaliation. However you looked at it, Andrew Minyard wasn’t an expert on believing in dreams, not anymore at least. And he’d never been good at achieving them. 

That being said, there was something oddly ... captivating, about the redhead’s performance. It wasn’t just the being hot thing, although that helped. There’d been a hint of awkwardness at first, which Andrew was surprised to find he didn’t hate. There was passion there, in every movement and note. He sang as though he had nothing too loose. 

When he was done, the audience erupted into cheers and applause, more than even Kevin had been awarded. Kevin was clapping as well, and looked excited. “He’s going to make it.” 

Andrew looked at him in annoyance. “He’s not even a student.”

“He will be,” Kevin said with conviction. 

~

As Neil made his way backstage, he was greeted by shouts and praise. “That was incredible!” said Stewart, clutching Neil’s shoulders in their version of a hug. 

“Who are you?” Someone cried out.

“I’m Neil Josten.”

“Who are you?” 

The principal made his way over to Neil. “You don’t go to school here?”

Neil was taken aback. “No, I just..”

“Do you want to?”

Neil was incredulous. “Me?” He looked around, everyone was nodding emphatically. “I mean, should I?”

“Yes!” they all shouted.

“But the kids who go here are all like, crazy talented. 

“Yeah, so are you.” said Matt.

“But what if I’m not good enough?” 

Matt stared at him for a moment, then went to whisper something to one of the crew. He nodded, then pressed some button and the curtain opened up to show everyone talking at once about the issue. 

“Hey!” Matt called putting to the crowd.

“Hello Matt!” boomed the voice of Matt’s grandmother as she waived to him.

“This guy,” he said, gesturing towards Neil, “doesn’t know if he’s good enough to go to school here. What do you people think?”

The audience let out a collective scream.

~

“See,” said Allison as she led Neil down the hallway of Hollywood Art, “it’s just a high school.”

“This is not just a high school.” said Neil. “I have been to three, one of which was in Germany. And I’ve been an attendee at more than 10 schools, half of which weren’t in the country. This isn’t just a school, or just a high school. These kids are all artsy and creative, and I’m just normal.” 

“It’s okay,” Allison said, bopping him lightly on the nose. “There’s nothing wrong with being average.” 

“Anyway,” she continued. “You’re not alone. I got your back.”

Neil smiled a little. “Okay.”

“Allison!” yelled a girl as she rushed past them. “Eric Paulson got his hair straightened.” 

“Shut up!” Allison yelled, rushing after her. 

“I’m alone.” Neil said, despairingly. He wandered the halls for about a minute, before bumping into a girl who was very... bright. He couldn’t of another word to describe her. Her hair was a rainbow of many different colors and shades, and her smile was huge. “Hey,” Neil said nervously, “umm, can you tell me..”

“Your Neil right?” she asked, her voice quiet yet upbeat. “You were so awesome in the big show case!” 

“Aw, thanks.”

“My name’s Renee.”

“Renee? Oh, my sister has mentioned you...”

“What’s that supposed to mean!” she exclaimed, her voice several octaves higher than it had been, as she rushed up the stairs. Neil saw a girl at a water fountain, and made his way over.

“Can you tell me where Mr. Wymack’s classroom is?”

“Down the hall, second door on your right.” 

“Thank you.” 

~

Neil walked into Mr. Wymack’s class. He and Allison had gotten coffee before school started, and he was still nursing his black one. Allison has gotten an iced caramel latte with coconut milk, which he’d tried once. He couldn’t get the appeal at all. He was so relieved to be in the right class that he forgot to look where he was going, and bumped right into someone. Looking up, he saw the face of Kevin Day.

Neil had been prepared for this. At least, he’d told himself he was. Still, looking into the face of someone he hadn’t seen in years was disconcerting. Especially considering his memories of meeting this person were less than pleasant, and that he’d spent a good portion of his recreational time, mostly before he had a life of his own, obsessively following said someone. Kevin looked very different now than as a child, and also different from magazine clippings. He was tall and somewhat imposing, conventionally handsome with dark hair, tanned skin and green eyes. He was frowning down at Neil. He was about to panic... but then he looked down, noticing the source of the other boys distress, and panicked to a lesser but still significant extent over what the cause actually was.

“Oh my gosh!”

“It’s okay.” said Kevin, looking down at his now coffee stained shirt.

“No, here...” said Neil, as he began to rub vigorously at the stain, “I think it’s coming out.” 

The boy chuckled nervously, “...You might be making it worse, actually.”

“Dude,” said another voice from the door. “Why you rubbing my boyfriend?” 

Neil turned to see a boy his age, maybe a little older, stomp into the classroom. Like the other girl, his hair was dyed. Instead of rainbow, he’d opted for sapphire blue. Every piece of clothing he wore was black. He hadn’t yelled, but there was an angry glint in his eyes that told Neil that in this case, volume didn’t correspond to the level of threat. 

“I spilled coffee on...”

“Get away from him.” said the goth, his voice bright with fake cheer.

Neil crossed his arms, and sat in a chair. He didn’t care about this type of drama, but no way was he giving this jerk what he wanted. “I’m good here.” 

The boy looked momentarily taken aback, and many members of the class became tense. Neil spotted Matt in a desk, looking worried. But he just continued death staring at Neil, and took a seat on the other side of bags Neil assumed were Kevin’s. Kevin also sat down. 

“Relax,” Neil thought he heard Kevin murmur to the boy on his right. Immediately goth midget’s posture, which had been tightly wound, relaxed, and he uncrossed his arms. Uncomfortable with the exchange, Neil looked towards the chalkboard. Where was Mr. Wymack? 

Just then, a man came through the door. “Oh my god, there’s a huge fire!” He cried. Some students started screaming and getting up from their seats. Matt, Kevin and goth midget stayed, so Neil did too. “Kidding, kidding. Just wanted to get your blood pumping, which I did. All right! Let’s get started.”

Neil remembered something just then, and quickly glanced at Matt. “He’s our teacher?” He mouthed. 

“Okay, first I’d like to introduce our new student, Neil.” 

Neil forced a smile, and waved at the class as they applauded. Mr. Wymack continued, “And I’d like to thank Neil for his generous gift of two dollars. Not necessary, but much appreciated.” He put down the coconut he’d been sucking the milk out of to show the class the money.

“Why’d you give him two dollars?” asked Matt.  
“I thought he was homeless!” Neil said helplessly. 

“Now,” Mr. Wymack said, not sounding much more authoritative,”..today we are going to continue our study in group improv. Neil, I assume your familiar with improv?”

“No.”

“Okay, crash course. Improv, acting without a script, which means the actors must make up their own acting and dialogue as they perform the scene. Understood?”

Neil opened his mouth to protest. Wymack all but ignored him. “Excellent.” 

“Andrew,” Wymack said, turning to the blue haired boy, “..you will captain the first group of the day. Choose your actors.”

Andrew made his way up to the ledge in front of the chalkboard, the stage Neil guessed. There were a few murmurs, but they died as soon as he was facing the rest of the class. “Renee,” he said first, pointing to the rainbow haired girl from earlier, who grinned sweetly back. “Eli, Kevin...” his eyes seemed to dance a little as he exchanged a glance with, Neil guesses his boyfriend. “And Neil.” 

Neil was surprised and a little wary, but promptly got out of his seat to join the others. “Okay,” said Wymack. “Let’s give them a place.” A dark haired boy holding some type of puppet in the third row raised his hand. “Home!” 

“HOME.” repeated Wymack, as he wrote it on the board. “Now we need a subject.” 

Matt raised his hand. “Big news.” Wymack wrote that down too.

“Why don’t you go wait in the hall?” asked Andrew. 

“Uh, okay.” replied Neil.

~ 

“What’s the prob, dog?” asked Andrew. Neil was seething. Andrew had just made him pretend to be a dog for the crazy improv assignment, then claimed he had fur bugs and dumped coffee — which tasted more like hot chocolate — on his head. Neil left the classroom without a word. He was so, so done with this school. He took out his cell phone. Now was one of the only times he was glad Stuart and Allison never let him leave the house without it. 

“Hey, whatcha doin’?” asked Matt. He must have followed Neil from Wymack’s classroom. 

“Calling my Uncle to tell him I want to go back to my old school.” 

“Why?”

“‘Cause.” Neil said angrily. “I don’t like having sickly sweet hot chocolate in my hair.” Just then some of the stuff dripped into his mouth, and he fought the urge to retch. 

Matt frowned. “So if it was bitter, it’d all be good?” 

Just then, Neil’s phone rang and he picked up immediately. “Stuart-“ he said, before Matt took his phone and held it above his head.”

“Nah uh.”

“Give it back!” Neil tried to reach for it. Unfortunately, Matt was a giant. 

“Your going to quit school on your first day, because of one —admittedly scary—- mean goth kid?” 

“It’s not just him!” said Neil. “I just don’t fit in here.” 

“C’mon, this place isn’t that different from other school.” 

“Yeah?” Neil retorted. “Like regular schools have improv classes and barefoot teachers and superstars who attend and mean girls that make you bark like a dog?”

Matt chuckled. “I would love to watch Andrew get called that to his face.” He thought for a moment. “As long as I was at least a yard away, viewing through.. plexiglass or something.” He paused to give Neil his phone back. “This school’s not normal.” 

“Really?”

Matt started walking back to class, backwards. “Your not normal either. Normal’s boring.”

~

Neil sat on the couch, eyes trained on his computer screen. 

“You know,” said Allison. “Your actually not terrible.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re really gonna quit Hollywood Arts?” 

Neil sighed. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should come back.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Allison said slowly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I don’t wanna be known at school as the girl with the lame little brother who quit on his first day.”

“Thanks.” Neil said sarcastically.

“And,” Allison continued, “I think you were really awesome in the big showcase.”

“Thank, Allie.”

“But I would have been amazing!” She yelled as she flounced up the stairs. 

Neil sighed, and thought about everything. Honestly, what had happened in Wymack’s class had been super annoying, but on it’s own he could handle it. Hot chocolate spillage wasn’t the same thing, or even in the same ball park at being chased by the mafia. It was just like he said, he didn’t fit in enough for all that to be worth it. But Allie thought he did, and Matt thought he did, and honestly Neil wanted to see if they were right. Kevin didn’t seem to recognize him, which was fine by him. If nothing else, he figured he should go tomorrow get his revenge on Andrew, then decide about quitting. 

~

Andrew walked into Wymack’s class, double chocolate mocha with extra whipped cream in hand. He slid into the chair next to Kevin, noting the absence of “Neil”. He smiled, a combination of the pills his therapist had him trying right now and genuine relief. He didn’t trust that guy, and he didn’t like that Kevin had seemed so effected by his alleged memory of the kid at first, but seemed to have brushed it off, yet refused to tell Andrew what it had actually been about. 

“You happy?” asked Kevin, gesturing beside him. 

“Not now.” said Andrew. Kevin huffed in annoyance. Honestly Andrew thought that was unfair. Wasn’t the whole point of their arrangement so that Andrew could protect him, either physically or from preventing others from getting close with his alleged boyfriend status? He was only being a good bodyguard/ fake boyfriend/ ...something. 

Just then, the door opened. Andrew could not believe what he was looking at. Standing in doorway was Neil Josten, smiling, his blue eyes fierce. He made his way over, not to him and Kevin but to Matt. They were greeting each other and Neil sat down next to him, but caught Andrew’s eye. Andrew looked away, to hide his surprise. Kevin was also looking, and kept looking. 

“Okay,” said Wymack. “Today we are going to do some alphabetical improv. What is alphabetical improv you ask? It’s when we give a letter to the first actor who speaks in a scene. If we used the letter a, as an example, then he must make his first word start with the letter “a”.” 

“Which might go something like...” he gestured to Kevin.

“Apples are falling out of my butt.” Kevin said, quickly. 

“Lovely.” said Wymack. “Now, the next actor who speaks must begin his first word with the next letter in the alphabet, in this case b.He might say...” He gestured to Matt. 

“Bring those apples, so that we may all enjoy the fresh fruit from Kevin’s butt.” Matt’s face twisted a little as he said it. 

“Charming.” said Wymack. “Now, who wants to lead the first group!”

“I do.” said Neil firmly. Despite himself, Andrew was intrigued. He wasn’t such a fearful rabbit after all, then. 

“All right, Neil.” Wymack said as Neil made his way to the stage. “Choose your actors.” 

“Matt, Renee, Kevin,” he paused for a moment, making direct eye contact, “and Andrew.” 

Andrew made his way to the stage with the others, Kevin’s breath hot on the back of his neck. It made the hairs there stand on end, and succeeded in distracting him for a moment. 

“If you start your line with the wrong letter,” Wymack said, jolting him back to reality, “...You’re out. Nicky, give us a letter.”

“P.” his cousin said from the third row.

“Neil, action.” 

Neil turned to Andrew. “Please go take a shower.”

Andrew stepped forward. “Quit telling me what to do.”

“Relax, guys.” said Kevin, shooting Andrew a warning look from the corner of his eye. “Let’s all try to get along.” Andrew barely repressed a snort. 

“Totally.” said Renee. 

“Renee,” said Wymack. “..your line had to start with s.” 

Renee looked sad. “Oh well.” She took a pop rock out of her purse and offered it to Wymack. “Here, have a piece of candy.” 

She went to her seat. Andrew always found it hilarious how much everyone else in the school bought her act. 

“Alright Matt, letter s to you.” 

“Uh, somethin’ just bit my toe.”

“Turtle.” said Neil. “That turtle just bit his toe!”

“Unbelievable that your even here.” said Andrew. 

Neil pointed to Andrew with his index finger. “Very immature of you to say.”

“What if the turtle broke my toe bone?” asked Matt.

“X-rays are the only way to find out.” said Neil.

“You should shut up.” said Andrew. 

“Zap! I just healed your toe with my magic finger.” said Kevin.

“Thanks!” said Matt.

“Matt, your line had to begin with the letter “a”. Sit down.” said Wymack. 

Matt looked dejected. “Aw, I just got my toe bone fixed.” 

“Neil, the letter a to you.”

“Aliens are the only people who can heal toes by finger zapping.” said Neil. 

“By the way...” Andrew began.

“Correct, I am an alien.” Interrupted Kevin. Andrew gritted his teeth.

“Don’t hurt me!” Neil pleaded.

“Even though he’s extremely annoying.” Andrew got in.

“Fainting,” Kevin said as he lowered himself down, “because I can not breathe your earthly air!”

“Gosh, it fainted.” said Neil, pointing to Kevin’s faux limp body.

“Excellent!” said Wymack. “Neil and Andrew, keep going. The next letter’s h.”

“Hey,” said Andrew. “Why don’t you go jump off a cliff.”

“I think you should.” Neil responded. Many students, including Matt and Nicky, looked taken aback by the directness.

“Just where did you come from?” asked Andrew.

“Kangaroos.” said Neil. They were each crossing the room as they spoke now.

“Lousy animals, kangaroos.” Andrew turned around. “They’re awkward and dirty.” 

“Maybe they learned from you.” The class let out a collection of “ohhhhhh’s”. 

Andrew clenched his fist, and directed his most devastating stare at Neil. “No one,” he said very slowly, “talks to me like that.”

Neil put his hands on his narrow hips. “Obviously someone should.” 

Andrew was seething at this point. “Praying that you run in front of a bus.”

“Quite obnoxious of you to say.” 

“Really?”

“Sure was.”

“Thanks.”

“Up your nose, I see boogers.”

“Very clever.”

“Wish you’d thought of it?”

“X marks the spot I’d like to punch.”

“Your finger smells weird.” 

“Zero is what you are on a scale from one to ten.”

“Aaand back to the letter a!” said Wymack, now sipping on his coconut.

Neil turned back to Andrew. “As if I care what you think.”

“Better watch yourself.”

“Can’t take it?”

“Don’t push me.”

“Eat your pants!”

“You eat your pants!” Andrew retorted angrily, then realized his mistake. “Wait-“

“I’m sorry Andrew,” said Wymack. “The letter was..”

“Fuck, I know!” He made his way to his seat, folding his arms. Renee smiled at him apologetically.

“Keep the scene going.” said Wymack. “The letter g.”

“Get up, alien.” said Neil, pulling Kevin to his feat. 

“Head...” Kevin moaned. “Feels dizzy.”

“I know what’ll make you feel better.”

Kevin frowned. “Jumping jacks?” 

Neil locked eyes with Andrew from across the room. “Kiss me.” 

No. This wasn’t...

“Little weird,” Kevin said, his gaze also flicking to Andrew for a second. “Let’s do it.” 

They kissed... not a deep kiss, but a kiss. One of mockery. Andrew was so angry and irritated and... was he turned on? Or nauseous?

After the two boys disconnected their terrible, gorgeous mouths, Neil smiled. “I love this school.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing because I originally had Andrew say the word please, which is uncomfortable. I took out that word twice from the alphabet dialogue but left one time Neil says it in, will likely address his dislike of it later but maybe not as in detail as in the books.


	2. The Bird Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil has to master his first monologue, Andrew is very gay and very tired, Matt and Nicky are friends, Kevin is a bit of a mystery but getting more Kevin-like this chapter. Renee makes Neil look stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, Nicky is aged down here so there’s only a two year age gap between him and the twins. All three of them live with the Hemmicks.

“So he said, “you think your better than everyone else?” So I go “well, pretty much, yeah” which was just me being..”  
Allison turned to look over her shoulder, annoyed to find no one listening to her anecdote.  
“Neil, come on!”

Neil came to her locker, panting. His hair was askew. “Did you not see me fall down in the parking lot?” 

Allison gave a vaguely apologetic shrug. “It was pretty funny.”

Neil sighed, exasperated. “I wasn’t trying to be-“

“Oh, the new play roster!” Allison exclaimed with excitement. 

She went up to the clipboard on the wall, squinting to make out all the names. “Hold my coffee.” she said, handing her iced vanilla off to Neil. “Move.” she told a couple of freshman boys, who quickly scurried out of her way. Allison took pride in this, freshman boys were like rodents or lizards and them being afraid of you meant you didn’t have to smell anything when they died. Not even Andrew Minyard was as good at scaring them off as she was, which she felt a bit smug about come to think of it. 

“These are so good.” she said, reading. “Don’t spill that.” She added to Neil, who was now balancing a handful of textbooks along with her coffee. 

Once Neil had managed to get everything in a manageable formation, he asked, “Now, what’s so good?”

“The list of plays for the semester.” Allison clutched her cheer dramatically. “Oh my god, I am perfect for all of these!” 

“Is Moonlight Magic on there?” asked Neil. 

“Yeah, number four, why?” 

“Matt wrote the music for it. He wants me to try out for the lead.” 

Allison faux scoffed. “You? Why?” 

Neil rolled his eyes. “Just take your coffee and go.” Once it was out of his hands he wrestled with his heavy textbooks and backpack.

Just when Allison had left, Andrew walked past.

“Need some help?” he asked, voice high and cold. 

“Yes.” said Neil. 

“Interesting.” said Andrew, striding away with the assurance of a much taller person. 

~  
“And your saying that movie isn't scary?” asked Matt, disbelievingly.

“No,” said Seth. “I’m saying it’s not as scary as tofu.” 

Matt rolled his eyes. That was usually his reaction to anything Seth said these days. For the millionth time, he wished for Nicky to grow out of his need to have Seth with him at all times. 

Just then, Matt and Nicky-plus-Seth rounded on Neil’s locker. 

“Hi!” Matt called, giving a little wave. 

“Hey, can you guys help me?” asked Neil.

“Sure.” said both Matt and Nicky. Nicky was in such a rush to help he dropped the puppet on his face.

“Oof.” said Seth from the floor.

“..We should probably get some shelves in there or something.” Noted Nicky as soon as they had finished somewhat arranging Neil’s locker materials. 

Matt closed it’s plain red door. “All set.”

“Thanks.” said Neil. 

Nicky stopped to pick up Seth. He moaned in pain. “Never put me down like that again.” 

Nicky reached for his hand only to be slapped. “Ow!” he exclaimed. “I was helping Neil!”

“Get the gym off my forehead.” ordered Seth. 

Matt and Neil watched helplessly. Matt was never sure what he should do when Seth did things like this, but how exactly could he defend Nicky from himself? He and Nicky’s other friends mostly tried to mind their own business. 

“My locker is filled. I feel complete.” Neil deadpanned.

“Whoa whoa, not yet.”

“What?” asked Neil. 

“You gotta customize it.” said Matt. 

“Everyone at Hollywood Arts has to customize their locker.” said Nicky.

“Oh, well, what would you do for yours?”

“I made a mosaic using all of the baby bottle nipples from my childhood.” Nicky said, proudly. 

Matt and Neil stared at him.

“They remind me of a happier time!” Nicky said, in a tone that failed to sound like he was joking. 

“Yours?” Neil asked Matt. Matt walked over to his own locker. 

“Follow those dreads!” exclaimed Seth. 

Matt’s piano had a built in keyboard. He played a short jig to demonstrate. 

Just then, guidance counselor Betsy Dobson came walking by, coffee in hand. “Hey Nicky, Matt.”

They turned to look at her.

“That squirrel’s back in my office again.”

“I’ll get the net.” said Matt, resigned.

“I’ll get the nuts.” Nicky said, then grinned. “Nuts actually-“

“Don’t try to be funny. That’s my thing.” said Seth. 

Matt gritted his teeth as they both set off without Neil, looking for squirrel trap materials.

~

“Betsy, Betsy!” Andrew exclaimed in a fake southern accent. “That animal’s delicious flesh can keep us all alive for another week.” 

Renee clutched the giant stuffed pig in her arms tighter. “I don’t wanna be alive without Poncy. This pig is everything to me that my daddy never was. And I’ll be ding danged-“

Wymack threw a bouncy ball right in Renee’s face. She helped and fell down.

“Wymack?” said Andrew.

“What?”

“You hit me in the face with a ball.” said Renee, clutching her cheek. 

“Oh, come on.” said Wymack, looking truly exasperated. “A truly great actor can stay in the scene no matter what’s happening around her.” 

Kevin nodded in agreement.

“But it really hurt!” Renee said emphatically. The bell rang just then. “Ooh lunch yay!” Renee squealed. 

Wymack rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother her further as the class started queuing to leave. 

“Don’t forget to learn your lines!” He called to their back. “I expect you to be off book tomorrow”

“Hey, you wanna come to lunch with us?” asked Kevin. Neil swore he could feel Andrew’s gaze on them from up ahead. 

“Sure!” he answered, still caring very little what goth midget thought. 

As he was leaving the classroom with Kevin in tow and after Matt, when a bouncy ball hit him in the face too. 

“Wymack!” he exclaimed. “I’m not even acting right now.”

“We need to chat.” said his teacher. 

“And Neil, can I talk to you wouldn’t have worked?” Neil deadpanned. 

“Good luck,” said Matt.

“Protect your face.” advised Kevin. 

Once they left, Neil walked over to the stage. “What’s up?” he asked Wymack. 

“I hear you signed up to audition for a play, Moonlight Magic ?”

“Uh-huh.” said Neil unsure where this was going. “Matt wrote the music for it and he wants me to play the lead.”

“You should.” said Wymack.

“Yeah?” asked Neil, feeling a disquieting little sliver of hope. 

“But you can’t.” 

“Huh?”

Wymack turned around and strode towards a bookshelves next to the stage. “Not until you pass-“ he picked up a small, leather book and held it out to Neil. “-The Bird Scene.”

“The… bird, scene?” Neil half asked half stated. 

“Here at Hollywood Arts every student must successfully complete “The Bird Scene”before they can audition for any and all school productions.”

Neil frowned slightly, but took the book from Wymack. 

~ 

“Do you know where I could get ballet slippers?” asked Matt. 

“No, but I do know where you could find a pretty skirt and some lip gloss.” answered Kevin. 

“Heh, heh, heh.” Matt said sarcastically. “That was a good one, Kev.” 

“Heh, that was a good one Kev.” Seth said emphatically. “Lip gloss.” Nicky raised one of his short arms in the air. 

Kevin suddenly looked as if he was internally berating himself a bit for the joke. Matt couldn’t blame him, he had a similar rule. If he said something Seth agreed with, it was something he would never say again. 

“Why do you need ballet slippers?” Kevin addressed Matt. 

“‘Cause I signed up for ballet.” said Matt.

“Whoa, whoa.” Nicky said, grinning slyly. “Isn’t that kind of…gay?”

“No I will not sleep with you.” said Matt. 

Nicky chuckled a bit. “I didn’t meet it that way, Boyd. Just, what gives? Why are you in that class?”

Matt smiled. He missed this Nicky who was open and carefree about everything, and brimming with humor and proud of his identity. He still resurfaced from time to time, but Matt had been seeing his friend withdraw more and more into himself, with Seth giving voice to his jokes with the addition of cruel, bigoted ones. Or they were just gross. 

He raised his eyebrows. “I never said I was straight, Nicky. Just that I like girls, and that I don’t think of you that way.”

Kevin gave Matt a thumbs up. 

“Anyway, I’m not taken like the two of you.” said Matt. 

“I’m not taken,” said Nicky. Technically this was true. Erik wasn’t Nicky’s official boyfriend, just a pen pal he flirted with all the time and was clearly in love with who was clearly in love with him. Kevin said nothing. 

“I figure there’ll be a lot of guys who aren’t straight and girls who are— or aren’t, I guess.” he said. 

Nicky frowned. “Would you mind if maybe — I signed up too?”

“Nah, go for it.” said Matt. He turned to Kevin. “How about you man?”

Kevin shook his head. “Can’t. Andrew and I already signed up for that Shakespeare class that’s at the same time.” 

Matt didn’t really understand Andrew and Kevin’s relationship, just that they were attached at the hip almost always. Right now Andrew was seeing Dobson about something. 

~

Wymack gestured ecstatically. “Ready? Drive by acting exercise, you're all angry englishmen. Go.” 

“I insist you tell me who sat on me crumpet!” Nicky exclaimed.

Andrew curled his hands into fists. “My mummy went to the loo while I sniffed the prime minister.”

“This flock of whip-poor-wills is bothering my trousers!” Matt yelled at Kevin.

“Good heavens.” said Renee. “There’s a dead cockroach in my brassiere.”

“Blimey.” exclaimed Seth. 

“Well I told you not to put plum sauce on me banger!” shouted Kevin.

The room erupted in shouting. 

“All right! Very good, quiet down!” barked Wymack, just as Neil came in. Andrew suddenly found his hands itched with the urge to smooth his hair, which was a light blue and pink today. Renee had done it for him, and while it wasn’t the color scheme he usually went for he didn’t dislike it. He was pretty sure it was messy from rushing here from Bee’s office (he didn’t care about attendance, but wasn’t about to leave Kevin to fend for himself longer than needed). 

“Sit down!” They all sat. 

“The time has come for our newest student to tackle…” Wymack and the whole class did a drum roll, “..The Bird Scene.” 

Neil strode over to the stage, giving the classroom a view of his long legs with their lean muscle, courtesy of the flimsy jean shorts he seemed to think were clothing. Andrew was almost grateful to whoever had invented jorts. Almost.

Neil turned to the classroom. “Can I ask you a quick question before I start?” 

Andrew rolled his eyes at the floor. 

“Just do your best,” said Wymack. “Action!”

Neil performed the whole scene perfectly well. He then addressed Wymack, “So, how was that?”

“What do you mean?” asked Wymack.

“Did I do the scene right?”

“Oh, no, not at all.” said Wymack with a chuckle. 

Neil frowned. “Okay, so what did I do wro-?”

Wymack started propelling Neil to his seat. “You’ll have try again and perform it right or you cannot be in Matt’s play or any other.” 

“I don’t get any feedback?” he asked in disbelief.

“That is correct.” Wymack addressed the whole class. “Drive by acting exercise: your all terrified dolphins!”

~

“Oh come on, I thought you guys were supposed to be my friends!” Neil said, exasperated. He was trying to get Renee or Nicky or Kevin or Andrew to tell him what he’d done wrong in the Bird Scene. Not that he expected Andrew, or even Kevin… but the others should help him!

“I’m not your friend.” said Andrew, matter-of-factly. He dragged Kevin to the vending machine with one hand. 

Neil rolled his eyes. 

“I was kind of hoping we could be more than friends.” he thought he heard Seth say. 

“Hmm?” he asked.

“Mmmhmm?”

“Seth,” chastised Renee. “It’s gross to hit on people who aren’t interested.”

“Number one rule of the bird scene,” Kevin said, cool and collected as he came over with Andrew in toe, “no one’s allowed to help you.”

“No one.” Seth agreed. 

“So this is what you did with your locker?” asked Andrew, gesturing at it. Neil had put a magnetic whiteboard over his locker. 

“Yeah. See, it’s a dry erase board with a bunch of colorful pens in a convenient cup, so whoever comes here can write or draw whatever they want.” Neil gestured to said cup as Andrew sipped his energy drink. 

Kevin looked at the board with a level of contempt that didn’t match his boyfriends, but was disturbingly close to it. “But you’re supposed to decorate it yourself.” 

“It’s a Hollywood Arts tradition.” agreed Renee, looking more sympathetic. 

“Well, what’s wrong with letting other people be expressive on my locker?” asked Neil. 

Nicky pointed. “Well, for one thing they can do that.” Neil turned as Andrew was leaving, but in time to see NEIL’S STUPID LOCKER written on the white board. 

“Yeah? Yeah, well my locker’s smarter than your locker!” Neil yelled at Andrew’s retreating back. 

“How can a locker be-“ Renee began.

“I know.” said Neil, exasperated. 

“Somebody tell me how to do the bird scene or I’m gonna cry.” Neil said despairingly. It wasn’t true, but no one needed to know that.

“Can’t.” said Renee.

“And don’t be so whiny.” said Seth. 

Just then, Matt walked by. “Time for our first ballet class.” he said to Nicky.

Nicky did a half pirouette. “Yay!”

They were gone before Neil could get a word in. 

~ 

“You ready?” Kevin asked Neil.

Neil scoffed. “Oh, I’m ready. He wants”The Bird Scene”? I’m gonna give him “The Bird Scene”. I got props, I got a backdrop and just to kiss up a little I even got Wymack…” he rummaged around in his bag before producing two fruits, “..two large coconuts.” 

“What’s the deal with Wymack and coconuts?” asked Nicky.

“He says the milk gives him visions.” Andrew said, throwing his hands in the air in surrender. Just then the bell rang.

Wymack arrived and threw his large over the shoulder bag onto the floor. “We have much to do today. But first, Neil, “The Bird Scene”.”

Neil got up. “I’m ready! And before I begin, I’d like you to have these two large coconuts.” 

“Wonderful. You know their milk gives me visions.”

“I’ve heard.” 

Wymack looked at the class. “Everyone pay attention. Neil?”

“One second.” he said. He yanked at the red curtains to reveal a backdrop of a prairie village. There was oohing and ahing from some of his classmates. He also had brought wire rimmed glasses to wear, and had even brought a wind up bird 

“Action!” called Wymack. 

~

“So? Was that good?” Andrew personally had no idea. He was very tired. He’d stayed up all last night and honestly a few others this week working on a school project with Kevin. Not that he slept for more than a couple hours a night otherwise, but this was ridiculous. They had agreed to take basically all their classes together, and it made sense to work together when they had to partner on things. 

Recently though, Andrew had realized there was another reason why Kevin always wanted them too. Andrew didn’t care about his grades, he did very little homework assigned and could usually coast on memory and alleged “talent” enough to pass because of his assessment scores. But, he would never blow Kevin’s grade since he knew that for some godforsaken reason they were important to him. Andrew didn’t like trying at things that didn’t matter, and he liked being tricked into things less. 

Bee had told him Kevin was only tricking him for his own good, because he cared. She had realized too late what those words would mean to Andrew, and he had stomped out of her office. Now he was too exhausted to focus on what was going on, but he’d trained his body not to fall asleep or betray weakness around others. His thought process was just scattered ones like “glasses make blue eyes pretty” and “Kevin shut up”. Kevin was criticizing Neil’s performance in his ear. 

Wymack crosses his arms behind his head. “Exactly what are you asking me?” 

“Did you like what I did with the scene?” asked Neil. 

“Sure.” said Wymack.

“So did I get it right?”

Kevin winced, Andrew smiled on the inside. 

“Oh, no. You failed. Again.”

Neil put his hands up in indignation.

~

Neil found Renee on the stairwell, texting someone. 

“Renee.” he said. 

“Hi!” she said in that sugary sweet yet serene voice of hers.

“You want to try something?” He pulled out what he’d brought. 

“Handcuffs?” she looked up at him with beguiling brown eyes. 

“Yeah.” He quickly put them around one of her wrists and attached her to the stairs. To be honest he wasn’t buying that she was as non threatening as she appeared, but he was very certain that- 

Renee lifted her cuff free hand, completely at ease. “Fun!” 

Neil scoffed.

She smiled brightly. “What were you planning to do to get me to tell you the scene?”

Neil felt stupid saying it, “I was going to feed you choo choo peppers, and then offer you water in exchange for telling me.”

She hummed. “Not a bad plan, except that I ate nothing but choo choo peppers for three months once. So it still wouldn’t work on me.”

“Noted.” said Nei, before angrily making his way down the stairs and towards his locker. He threw his books into it and let out a disgruntled hiss.

“What are you doing?” asked Kevin from behind him. 

Neil turned, annoyed. “Angrily throwing books in my locker, can’t you tell?” He slammed his locker shut.

“Have you figured out how you’re gonna decorate it yet?” Kevin inquired. 

Neil sighed. “Yes, look, I put a stripe on it.” He gestured to the orange strip of duct tape along his otherwise gray locker. 

Kevin nodded, looking slightly judgmental. “Yes, I see the stripe.”

Neil crosses his arms. “I just don’t know what to do.”

Kevin was looking a bit uncomfortable now. Neil was realizing that the other boy seemed more cool and easy going compared to Andrew, but didn’t actually have great people skills outside of the press or some type group. Except with Andrew.. Maybe it wasn’t the contrast, it could be that he was just more comfortable with his boyfriend around, or a combination of the two. 

“Why don’t you do something that’s, you know, actually creative and authentic?”

Neil forced himself not to bristle at his tone. “What did you do for yours?”

“Come on.” Kevin said. He led the way to his own locker. It was painted bright red, but there were squares of it that were a darker maroon, and there was a black symbol in the center. Neil thought it was some type of chess piece? 

“King?” Neil guessed.

Kevin shook his head. “Queen.” He glanced at Neil. “I’m sure you’ve heard of Riko Moriyama?” 

Neil nodded. “You were raised together, and trained as actors. You understudied for him in a lot of acting roles like Peter Pan, Into The Woods…” he caught himself before he started listing Kevin’s entire filmography. 

Kevin nodded. “Yeah, well, let’s just say he’s different than his interviews make him out to be. He’s the king, most powerful. After the...accident that landed me here, and how he treated me because of it, I don’t aspire to that anymore. I’m going to be the deadliest piece on the board, even if it’s not the most coveted one.” He traced the symbol. “I also love chess, and my favorite color is red. Power.” 

Neil groaned. “ That is creative and authentic.” 

Kevin just nodded.

“So,” Neil said, “anyway, about “The Bird Scene”...”

The bell rang. 

“Later,” said Kevin as he presumably headed for his next class. 

~

“Happy birthday.” said Wymack at the start of class.

“Who’s birthday is it?” asked Renee. 

“Somebody. Somewhere.” Wymack replied.

Renee looked pleased. “That is so true.”

Wymack clasped his hands together. “Where’s Neil?”

“Here,” said Neil, his head popping out from behind the stage curtains. 

“Oh! Hah!” Wymack exclaimed. 

“Ladies and gents, once again, “The Bird Scene” starring Neil…”

“Josten.” said Neil, his head popping out from the curtains again.

Andrew had not expected Neil to use an actual, real life bird he’d apparently trained in the scene. Not even Kevin was perfectionistic and obsessive enough for that. 

“That,” Wymack said at the end, “was impressive.”

“So did I get it right?” asked Neil, who was an idiot. 

“Nope.” said Wymack. 

“But I just — I did too get it right!” Neil declared angrily.

“Neil, listen…” Wymack began.

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful. But do you know how hard I worked on this scene? I made this costume.” Neil gestured at the long purple tunic he wore. Ironically, it was the most fashionable thing Andrew had seen him wear to date other than at the showcase. 

“I downloaded special prairie music. I even trained a crazy cockatoo to fly in and out of that window on command!” 

At that point, the bird flew back into the room to perch on the stage. “Not now!” Neil yelled. The bird squawked and flew away again. 

“Look, I know you’re a great acting teacher and everything, but I don’t care what you say! The scene I just did was good, and I’m proud of it, no matter what anybody thinks.” 

Everyone started clapping. 

“What?” asked Neil.

“You just passed “The Bird Scene”!” Wymack exclaimed. 

~

“You guys ready?” Neil asked.

“Uh-huh.” said almost everyone, except Andrew who just said, “Whatever.” 

Neil closed his locker door. He had taken off the duct tape and painted the locker orange. He’d also printed out photos of white doves and taped them to the locker. 

“What does it mean?” Allison asked bluntly. Everyone else just looked confused. 

“Dove’s represent hope,” Neil explained. “I grew up not believing that existed for me, you know.” He gave a very pointed look to Allison. Andrew raised an eyebrow, but he ignored it. “Now I’m on my way to having the life and career I want, I have a family, I even have friends.” 

“I’m not your friend.” said Andrew.

Neil rolled his eyes. “This school makes me more hopeful, I thought my locker should honor that.”

“I don’t like it.” Andrew declares.

Allison wrinkles her nose. “Too orange.” 

Everyone agreed. “Those doves would look really pretty on a blue.” said Renee, and then they started arguing about replacement color schemes. 

“Ah-ah-ah.” said Neil. “I believe in my own choice and I don’t need approval from others.” 

“Ah, the young male students had learned the ways of “The Bird Scene”.” said Kevin. 

“I still think it’s dull.” said Andrew. “We should get food.”

The group started to leave, but Kevin waited by Neil’s locker. “You coming?”

Neil smiled. “Sure.”

Andrew shot Kevin an unreadable look, and they made their way to the cafeteria to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions related to the fic or want to talk about Aftg or other fandom stuff I’m @gothallisonreynolds on tumblr


	3. Stage Fighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Neil’s hatred of vegetables is noted

The warning bell before the first period sounded as Matt and Renee came down the stairs together. “So I was smiling like this, right-“ Neil overheard Renee say. He had a larger problem to worry about, as in how was he supposed to make a French horn fit in his tiny locker? He let out a groan of first ration.

“Neil!” exclaimed Matt. 

“What’s up?” asked Renee. 

“I’m having a horn problem.” Neil explained. “Why do I have to play an instrument anyway?” 

“Everyone at the school has to play an instrument.” said Renee. 

“Okay, well I sing. My throat is my instrument. I’m a throat player.” 

“Doesn’t count.” said Matt.

“And it sounds kind of gross.” added Renee. 

Neil sighed. 

~

Kevin was in a fight for his life, kicking and dodging and punching the other man as quickly as possible. Then he fell to the floor as if he’d been pummeled too much to stand. 

“Kevin!” a voice shouted, but he ignored it. Little could distract him when he was in the zone and on stage, even without an audience. 

“Hey, you guys! Leave him alone!” The same voice yelled. Just then a small, lightning fast ball of red hair tackled his opponent, and did some sort of grip on his neck that made him stagger to the foot as well, only for real. 

“What are you doing l? Neil!” Kevin exclaimed. 

Just then more people were filing to get in, the stage director and some Kevin’s classmates came to help dislodge Neil. 

“Who is this dude?” demanded Jeremy. 

Eventually, Matt managed to pull Neil off of Jeremy. 

“Neil, what are you doing?”

“That guy was beating up Kevin!”

“Oh, you poor thing.” said Andrew, who’d been occupying the front row of the auditorium this entire time. 

“We were practicing.” Kevin explained. “This is Jeremy…”

“I’m Jeremy!” 

“He’s a professional stuntman. Wymack invited him to teach us about stage fighting.” 

“And now Neil says… “what’s stage fighting”.” said Andrew, sounding bored, but managing a half-decent impression. 

“I wasn’t going to say that.” said Neil, rolling his eyes.

“What’s stage fighting?” Kevin heard him whisper to Matt, you whispered something back. Honestly Kevin was equal parts annoyed with Neil for messing up his performance and flattered that he’d cared enough to intervene. 

As if reading his mind, Neil said to him apologetically, “It really looked like he was hurting you.”

“..Why do you care?” asked Andrew, every syllable laced with disdain.

“Because,” Neil replied brightly. “I figured he already suffers enough pain dating you.” 

Andrew’s skin, already pale by L.A standards, turned even whiter. “You wanna see pain?” he threatened.

Kevin put a hand on his shoulder, although honestly he was a bit offended too. “Hey, why don’t we go sit over there?” He led Andrew to an auditorium seat a couple of rows back. 

“Calm down.” he said.

Andrew appeared incredulous. “He doesn’t get to talk to me that way.”

Kevin removed his hand from Andrew’s shoulder only to take his hand into his own. Casual touches weren’t easy for Andrew, but they’d grown accustomed to small gestures such as this from pretending in public. Now holding hands or resting his forehead on Andrew’s shoulder for a few seconds had become pretty commonplace even when they weren’t in public. 

Kevin stroked Andrew’s palm. “No, and he shouldn’t have said that. But you can’t afford to get in trouble again.” 

Andrew said nothing. 

“You know,” Kevin said, “what he said, it’s not true at all.” Andrew looked up at that. “Andrew you don’t hurt me, ever. You wouldn’t even if we were actually dating.” At the last part, Andrew jerked his hand out of Kevin’s and went to join the group. Kevin stayed still a few moments, then went to follow him.  
~

“Why does he hate me?” demanded Neil. 

“I mean, you did kiss his boyfriend.” Matt muttered.

Neil glared at him, and Matt chuckled. “Or maybe he just heard you play the French Horn.”

“Shut up.”

Neil had done a demonstration for Matt and Renee that hadn’t turned out well. 

“Now,” said Jeremy. “If I throw a punch at Renee-“ he demonstrated. Renee added a soft gasp for dramatic effect. “It’s easy to see my fist didn’t connect with her face. But if we stage it at a different angle, it’ll look like this.” Jeremy flipped some switches and rotated Renee around, then proceeded to punch her. It looked and sounded very real, but Renee resurfaced immediately. “I’m okay guys!” 

“All right,” said Wymack. “I’m going to pair you guys up, and each team will work with Jeremy today to prepare a fight scene. And on Friday you’ll all perform here in front of the class. The pairs will be…” He looked down at his clipboard. “Kevin and Renee, Matt and Gwen, Darren and Jess, Neil and Andrew...” 

“Neil and who?” asked Neil, a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

Andrew raised both eyebrows at Neil, and smirked.  
~

Neil was eating lunch with Matt and Renee. Well, they were eating, he mostly scowled down at his salad, for reasons mostly unrelated to his disdain for vegetables. Occasionally he looked up across the quad, to where Andrew and Kevin were eating lunch. Andrew was talking about something emphatically, while Kevin seemed to be listening intently. Neil hadn’t known either of them long, but he knew the two’s roles were usually reversed. Which posed the question of what Andrew was so excited about, and Neil thought he knew the answer…

“Look at him.” he said aloud, spearing several lettuce leaves with his fork repeatedly. 

“Who?” asked Matt. 

“Andrew!” exclaimed Neil. He lowered his voice. “He’s telling Kevin all about how he’s gonna punch me when we do our scene.” 

Honestly, being punched wasn’t a concern for Neil. What he was really worried about was stabbing. Neil had heard a lot of rumors about Andrew at Hollywood Arts, and many of them were clearly fiction. However the one that everyone including Matt had confirmed was that Andrew kept at least one knife on his person at all times. Neil had some personal experience with those and would rather not be on either end of one if he could help it. 

“It’s stage fighting.” said Matt, pulling Neil from his thoughts. “No one really hits anybody.” 

“Yeah, but accidents happen. And what if he makes one happen on purpose?”

“Did you know the word mirror has six letters and half of them are r’s?” asked Renee. 

“Haven’t you and Andrew been rehearsing?” asked Matt.

“Yeah.” 

“And did he hit you for real?” 

“No.” said Neil. “Because he probably wants to do it in front of the whole class to humiliate me.” 

“Well if he did, he’d lose half a letter grade.” Matt paused. “Not that Andrew really cares about..” 

“Ugh!” said Neil, breaking his lettuce into even tinier pieces.  
~

“All right,” said Wymack. “Next up, we have Neil and Andrew.” 

Andrew rose from his seat, shooting a challenging smirk in Neil’s direction. Neil also stood, and they faced the class.”

“Okay. So for our scene I’m gonna be playing an old lady who’s walking home from a bingo game.”

“And I play a brutal mugger.” said Andrew, adjusting the black beanie he for some reason needed to be menacing.

“Yes, a brutal mugger who mugs me.” Neil agreed.

Jeremy claps his hands together. “Okay. As always be careful, and if needed just yell the safe word. Which is…” Jeremy pauses dramatically, then grinned. “Butternut.”

The class didn’t react at all, but Jeremy remained cheerful.

“Okay guys, ready?” 

Neil had on a gray wig and was leaning on his cane. 

“And…”

“Butternut.” said Neil.

“What!” said Andrew. 

“Neil, what’s the problem?” asked Wymack.

“I was testing the safe word. It works.” 

Andrew rolled his eyes. 

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Neil leaned on his cane again.

“And...action.” 

“Oh, I certainly enjoyed the bingo.” said Neil as he hobbled along the stage. 

Andrew grabbed his shoulder from behind. “Give me your money and your watch.” he menaced. 

“Wouldn’t you rather have this?” asked Neil, in a simpering tone. He turned around and pretended to hit Andrew across the face with his walking stick.

Only there was a cracking sound, and Andrew yelled, “Ow! Butternut!” 

“Cut!” said Jeremy as he rushed to Andrew’s side… then removed himself a bit as to keep from being punched. 

“He’s bleeding!” said Renee. 

Sure enough, there were copious amounts of blood streaming down Andrew’s face. 

“Are you okay?” asked Kevin, who’d been allowed closest to Andrew.

“No, Neil hit me in the face for real.” said Andrew. 

“No I didn’t!”

“Tell that to my blood eye!”  
~

“Hey Neil.” said Dr. Dobson as he entered her office. “Have a seat.” One Neil had done that, she looked at him with mild concern. “You look a little worried.”

“Yeah, well,” Neil worked hard to keep the annoyance out of his voice, “..it’s not fun getting called into the guidance counselor’s office.” Also he’d been trained to be distrustful of authority figures who weren’t his mother, as well as mental health workers specifically from a young age.

“You’re not in trouble. I’m here to help you with your violence issues.” said Dobson. 

“I’m not violent!” Neil exclaimed.

“I believe you.” 

“Then why is he here?” Neil gestured at the officer who stood next to Dobson’s chair, who had his eyes fixed solely on Neil. 

“Neil, I know Andrew probably isn’t your favorite person.”

“So?” asked Neil.

“So in life, just because we may not like someone, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to beat ‘em with a cane.” 

“I didn’t!” said Neil, gesturing with his hands emphatically. He saw the guard put a hand to his belt. “Oh, relax Derek!”  
~  
The rest of the session was annoying, but not too bad. Neil’s punishment was two weeks of detention and cleaning the auditorium after some kids in a drama club had a food fight. Gross, but he could live with it.  
~  
Andrew was eating his lunch. Kevin has gone to get him a coffee with two sugars from the cafeteria. He knew Kevin must be seriously concerned about his injury, because under normal circumstances he’d refuse to enable Andrew’s sugar addiction. It almost made Andrew feel bad about the whole thing.

Splash!  
The dance students at the table behind Andrew and Kevin have been dumping water on each other. Only one of them —- Melissa or something —- has missed, and now Andrew was soaked.

“Oh, my god, Andrew,” the girl said, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, please don’t destroy my whole life, I didn’t mean…”

“Just forget it!” Andrew exclaimed, grabbing his cross body bag and intent on getting as far from the quad as possible.  
~

Matt spotted Andrew heading down the halls at a brisk pace, clutching on eye. 

“Andrew, wait up, wait up.”

“What?” 

He stopped walking, and Matt stares. “What’s wrong with your eye?”

“Neil hit me with a cane, remember?” 

“Yeah,” said Matt, “but I’ve never seen a black eye drop before.” He studied Andrew’s face. “This is makeup. Neil never hit you, did he?” 

Andrew sighed. “Look, you can’t tell anyone about this, especially Neil.”

Matt looked grave. “I won’t.” 

Andrew nodded and started to walk away.

“Neil!” he yelled, and started running with Andrew not on his trail. “Neil, where are you?”  
~  
Neil had seen and done a lot of gross things in his life. Cleaning the auditorium was safely in the top ten, below drinking toilet water when he was eight but above surviving on only microwaved Mac and Cheese for six months when he was eleven. 

“Is that Mac and Cheese?” asked Derek, examined the substance Neil was currently scraping off the wall. 

“Who cares?” asked Neil. 

“I just wanted to know if it was Mac and Cheese.” said the Office, who then returned to his blackberry. 

Neil worked in silence for a minute, then beard the thud of boots behind him. Neil turned around to see Andrew. His outfit was the least goth he’d ever seen the boy wear, just a red flannel shirt and dark jeans with his usual stomps boots and dark eye makeup. His hair was even free of any color other than what Neil guessed was his natural blonde. 

“I don’t get it.” said Andrew. He sounded genuinely perplexed. 

“Get what?” asked Neil, continuing to scrape. 

“I know Matt told you that I faked everything. The blood, the black eye…” he trailed off as his eyes were drawn to the wall. “What is that, Mac and Cheese?”

Neil set down the bucket, and drew himself up to full height. “Why are you here?” 

“Why are you here? Why didn’t you rat me out?” 

Neil sighed. “Because we both go to school here, and it’s not gonna be much fun for either one of us if we’re fighting all the time.” He went to dump the bucket out into the trash can before starting over again. 

Andrew looked on in disbelief. “So, you’re just gonna let me get away with it. You took detention, and a crappy grade, and your scraping pudding off the wall just so I won’t get in trouble?”

“Pretty much.” said Neil. 

Andrew seemed more confused than ever. “Well, you can’t be nice to me when I’ve been mean to you. That’s not how it works.”

Neil snorted. “I’m not the nice person people seem to think I am. This is because I want to enjoy my time at this school.” He took a deep breath. “It’s also me saying I respect you, and that I have too much respect for both of us to keep going the way we have.”

“Now go play, I’ve gotta scrape this onion dip off the wall.”

Instead of leaving, Andrew picked up a rag and started cleaning.


	4. Kevin’s Big Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin is on a movie with Kathy Ferdinand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not totally happy with this, will possibly revise at a later date. But whatever.  
> CW: brief mention of conversion therapy camp, bullying/implied homophobic bullying

“Okay,” said Neil. “I’ll have a turkey sandwich with no lettuce.” 

“All I got’s burritos.” said the lunch truck driver taking his order. 

“You know what?” I’ll have a burrito.” 

Just then, Matt rounded the corner. “What’s shakin’ bacon?” 

“Oh,, they don’t have bacon.” Neil said lightly, with a side of shade.

Once Matt too was informed that yes, burrito trucks only sold burritos, he placed the same order as Neil. A cloud of bees that were all too frequent in the humid summer Los Angeles air swarmed around Neil. He swatted at them ferociously. “Ugh! Get away stupid bees!”

“Don’t even mention bees in front of me.” Matt said, face serious.

Neil frowned. “Are you allergic?” 

“I don’t know.” Matt said, and then he pouted. “I’ve never been stung by a bee, not once in my whole life.” 

Before Neil could ask why that was a bad thing, the driver was back up front with his order. “A turkey sandwich with no lettuce for you.”

“I thought you said you only had burritos.” said Matt, with a hint of suspicion. Neil was already wolfing down his food. 

“What are you, a lawyer?” Asked the burrito truck driver. “Burrito for you.”

Neil and Matt walked over to the rows of outdoor tables that served as the school’s cafeteria. “Ugh!” Neil swatted at some more insects. “What is with these bees? They’re all over me today.”

“Must be nice…” Matt said wistfully. 

“Hey,” Kevin called over to them, gesturing to empty seats by him and Andrew. “Sit.”

“Thanks.” said Neil.

“Cool.” agreed Matt.

“Oh,” Andrew groaned. “I don’t want them sitting here.”

Neil felt a little reproachful at that. He’d thought they’d hit a breakthrough, what with literally breaking through dried chunks of macaroni-and-animal-cracker-encrusted slim jims with Andrew’s knife. 

“You know,” Neil snarked, “it’s great that you’re so open with your bitterness.” 

Andrew sipped his chocolate milk disdainfully...Neil wouldn’t have thought that was possible until just now. 

“He’s just grouchy ‘cause he got stung by a bee.” Kevin chimed in. 

“See that?” Matt cried out in indignation. “Everybody but me!” 

Kevin, Andrew and Neil turned to look at him with identical expressions of blankness. Kevin then turned back to what he was reading.

“Wait,” said Neil, intrigued. “Script pages? Are you auditioning for something?” 

Kevin Day hadn’t been in anything for a couple years. When he had, he’d never been a “leading man” aside from the way fangirls reacted to him. He played the sidekick more often than not on screen, and his sparser career in the theater cast him as the under-study to whoever Riko Moriyama was playing. However, many tv critics had praised Kevin’s acting specifically because while he played the same archetype often, he was every bit as good at portraying the right hand man to a hero or a villain. There were even articles - not a lot, but some - about how that made his performances so much more impressive than Riko, who only ever played the straight-good-guy. 

“Sort of.” said Kevin, snapping Neil out of his daze. “I’m auditioning for a movie.” 

“Good for you,” said Neil. “What movie?”

“I’m taking your pickle,” said Andrew. He took a bite, then spat it out looking disgusted. It was probably too sour for him.

Neil shot Andrew a dirty look.

“So, a movie?” Matt asked Kevin.

“It’s called Miss Fire.” Kevin explained. “It’s about a woman who gets fired from her job as lawyer, then goes on a crazy rampage.” 

“So plays the woman?” asked Neil.

“Kathy Ferdinand.” 

“Shut up!” Said Matt excitedly. 

“You're gonna co-star with Kathy Ferdinand?” Neil exclaimed. 

Kevin looked somewhat abashed. “Well, I’ll be playing waiter one, and I only have two lines. That’s if I get the part.” 

“Ow!” Allison exclaimed from outside a subway truck. “I just got stung by a bee!”

Matt got up out of his seat and stared at the sky, hands on hip. “Oh! Her? Really?”  
~

“Hey!” said Neil, approaching Matt and Renee in the hall, “guess what I’ve got!”

“A piccolo.” said Matt very astutely.

“I thought you were learning to play the french-“ Renee began.

“It didn’t work out!”

Nicky walked through the door, arguing with Seth. 

“Man will you slow up?” 

“No! I can’t afford to be late again.” Nicky turned to his friends. “Any if you guys got gum? I didn't have time to brush my teeth this morning.” 

“Give him some gum.” agreed Seth. 

“Why didn’t you brush your teeth?” asked Renee.

Nicky looked around, as if making sure no one was listening in. “I’ve been having nightmares.” 

Immediately, Matt looked concerned. 

“What about?” asked Renee.

“None of your business.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean!” 

The two started talking over each other. “Guys!” interjected Matt. 

“I gotta get some gum.” said Nicky. 

“I’ll see you guys in class,” Matt said to Neil and Renee, before following after Nicky. 

“Okay.” 

“Later.”  
~

“Mornin’.” said Kevin. “You wanna read the Miss Fire script?” 

Neil frowned. “But they don’t give actors full scripts unless…” he met Kevin’s eyes. “You got the part!” he exclaimed. “Congratulations! I say we celebrate piccolo style.” 

Neil managed a couple notes of Mary Had A Little Lamb before Kevin took his instrument. “No-no.” he said dryly.  
~ 

Matt caught up to Nicky. 

“Are you having nightmares about camp again?”

Nicky scowled. “I never stopped, not completely. Anyway this is something else.” 

“Surely you could talk to someone about it then,” Matt said. “Not me, necessarily, but there’s Dobson?” 

“No.” said Nicky firmly. 

“Come on,” coaxed Matt. “She’s really sweet! Even your evil cousin likes her.” 

“I don’t dislike her.” sighed Nicky. “And I’m so happy she’s been able to help Andrew, I just don’t think therapy is for me.”

“But-“ started Matt.

“See you in class!” Nicky sprinter off.  
~

“What did you do to my pants?” exclaimed Neil.

“Good,” Wymack declared. “Now terrified.” 

Neil’s face contorted in horror. “What did you do to my pants!” 

“Falling off a cliff” 

Neil mimed falling. “What did you do to my paaa-“

“Excellent.” Wymack clapped politely. “Now, as you can see, the same dialogue can evoke an infinite number of emotions depending on how the actor chooses to play it. Neil, sit. I suggest using a chair.”

“I’ll give it a shot.” replied Neil. Matt snickered.

It was at that moment Kevin’s walked into class 

“How was working on the movie?” inquired Renee.

Kevin was clearly trying to look nonchalant. “You know.”

Wymack taught the class for a few more minutes, something about lighting, he gave up and let Kevin tell them all about the movie.

“My fall time was this morning, at 5 A.M. They did my hair and makeup…”

“Did you meet Kathy Ferdinand?” interrupted Matt. 

“Not yet.” said Kevin, annoyed. 

“I bet she’s been stung by a bee.” Matt murmured to Neil. 

“You can ask her yourself.” said Kevin, who had rabbit-like ears. “The assistant director told me they need extras for a couple scenes. So if any of you guys want…” 

Everyone who wasn’t Andrew or Neil was screaming their excitement, and even they stood up.  
~

Renee punched a slumbering Nicky on the shoulder. “Nicky, wake up.”

Nicky sat bolt upright. “I am not a tissue!” He cried.

Renee looked at him reproachfully. “Sorry.” He had. “I had a nightmare.”

“You should really talk to Dobson.” said Renee. 

Seth’s eyes popped open. “No! School guidance counselors are bad news, trying to get all up in young people’s heads!” Nicky nodded.  
~

“Oh, that’s cool, what part do you play?” 

Matt glanced down cooly into the girl’s eyes. “I don’t have any lines, but..”

The girl made a noise of disgust, then walked away. 

“Hey!” said Neil when Matt came over. “I saw you working that cute girl over there.”

“Yeah, I think she’s into me.” said Matt with a grin.

“Right.” said Andrew, slowly. “We could tell by the way she ran screaming from you.” 

“Well your-“ Matt was cut off by the director telling everyone to get into the first position.  
~

“And then the waiter, uh…” 

“Kevin.” said Kevin.

“My boyfriend.” said Andrew, clearly but void of emotion.

“His boyfriend.” the Director repeated dutifully. “Anyway, he comes in left. Roll. And...action.”

“Why the disgusted look on your face?” some random male actor said to Kathy. 

“I’m having dinner with you.”

“See, that’s the kind of attitude that got you fired.”

“I got fired because I was set up.”

“Good luck proving that.” 

“I don’t need to prove anything, all I needed was…”

Kevin entered the scene. “I’m sorry, the chicken breast isn’t available today.” 

“Wait,” Kathy exclaimed. “What did you just say? Cut. Can we cut so this guy can learn his line?” 

“There’s no way she doesn’t know who Kevin is.” Neil whispered to Matt. Andrew, at the same table, rolled his eyes. “Kathy’s had it out for Kevin since a talk show they did together a few years back. He was scared to be on the same set at Riko, and spilled something on her and generally made her look bad.” His tone was dismissive, but he watched Kathy Ferdinand like he was sizing up how to best demolish her.

“Kathy, please,” the director said. “Only I yell cut.”

“He said his line wrong.” insisted Kathy. “He’s supposed to say, “We’re out of the chicken breast.” Not, “The chicken breast isn’t available today.” She said the last bit in a high pitched, nasal tone meant to imitate Kevin.

“So let the script supervisor tell him..”

Kevin cut the director off. “I’ll get it right this time.”

“Hope so.” Kathy said dryly. 

Andrew was looking more murderous by the minute. 

“Let’s do this again. Roll.”

“Wait,” said Neil, loud enough that everyone looked at him. “Excuse me? Actually, Kevin got his line right.”

Kevin faked a laugh. “I’m sorry…” he gestured at Neil and mouthed “No, no.”

“See,” said Neil, showing the script to the director. “Waiter number one’s line is, “I’m sorry, the chicken breast isn’t available today.” 

“Oh yeah,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “The kid got it right.” 

Kathy stood up, one hand on her hip. “Whoa, whoa. What are you?”

“Neil Josten.” he replied coolly. 

“An extra is correcting me on set!”

“I’m sorry but you yelled at my friend and he was right…”

Kathy cut him off. “He’s your friend?” she asked Kevin. “Go.”

“Go?” asked Kevin.

“I want you off this movie.” 

“Kathy-“ the director cut in.

“You want him here or me?” There was a moment of silence. The name Kevin Day was controversial right now, and would be as long as Riko was such a favorite. Kathy was similarly beloved, and therefore the smarter choice on paper. 

“Kid,” said the director apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Kevin said, and Neil’s heart ached at the raw disappointment in his voice. “That’s cool.”

~

A disgruntled Neil flopped down onto the stool next to Matt, placing his lunch on the table. 

“Ohhh,” said Matt. “You got tater pops!” He popped one into his mouth and then riffed on his keyboard.  
~

“Oh, great.” said Neil. “Here comes Andrew.” 

Andrew and Kevin made there way to the table. Andrew was wearing dark sunglasses, which made his already cold exterior more impenetrable. 

“Can we sit somewhere else?” he loudly asked Kevin. 

They took their seats. “Fine! We’ll sit with the guy who can’t keep his mouth shut and got you fired.” 

Matt played a menacing tune on his keyboard.

“Kevin,” said Neil. “I’m sorry about getting you fired, if I knew how to make it up to you I would.”

“I bet you would,” Andrew said. 

Neil frowned at him. 

“If you really wanted to help, you wouldn’t just sit there. You’d do something.” With that, Andrew stormed off. 

“I better go hose him down.” said Kevin.

“I’m so sorry.” said Neil, again, 

Kevin leaned forward and ruffled his hair. “Stop saying that.” He went after Andrew.  
~ 

Nicky was in Dr. Dobson’s office, and extremely nervous about the whole ordeal. 

“Hello Nicky, have a seat.”

Nicky sat on the couch.

“You mentioned in your email you’ve been having pretty bad nightmares.” 

“I’m not crazy..” began Nicky.

“Oh yes he is.” declared Seth. “Every day he puts on his right sock then his right shoe, then his left sock then his left shoe. Any mentally stable person puts on a sock and a sock, then a shoe and a shoe.” 

“Leave me alone!” exclaimed Nicky.

Dobson knitted her eyebrows. “Nicky…I think it’d be best if I could talk to you alone first.” 

“Without Seth?” he asked. When she nodded, he reluctantly agreed. 

“Do you have room in one of your drawers? He needs a nap.” She didn’t bat an eye. 

“So Nicky, tell me about your nightmares?”

“Well,” Nicky began. “Last night I dreamt that I was standing in this gigantic chair. And then Seth, whose like 20 ft tall, sat on me. With his butt!”

Dobson nodded slowly. “Nicky. Is it fair to say that that Seth insults and ridiculed you, a lot?”

Nicky nodded immediately. “Yes. But why would that make me dream that?”

“Because in real life, Seth bullies you with words. 

“Sometimes he slaps me.” Nicky interjected. 

“Okay. So when you’re asleep at night, your subconscious mind amplifies all that abuse, and that creates terrifying images in your nightmares. I think you need couples counseling.”

Nicky looked confused. “Seth and me?” 

“Mm-hm.” Dobson nodded. “Why don’t you get him out of that drawer and we can get started?” 

“Okay.” said Nicky. He approached where Seth was sleeping. He opened the drawer a fraction-

“Hey! Don’t you knock!” exclaimed Seth. 

Nicky dropped the hand like a hot plate. “Sorry!”  
~

On the set of Kathy's movie, Neil and Renee quietly ducked into the backstage area. The security guard was refilling his bottle, so Neil tried to head straight to set. 

“Hey!” called the guard. “Where do you think your going?”

“Hi,” Neil said politely. 

“You got some I.D.?”

“I’m Alex Johnson.” he said without breaking eye contact. “It’s okay, I’m in the movie.” He began to exit.

“Hold on,” said the guard. “I don’t remember seeing the name Alex-“

Renee leapt at him. “I can’t find my mother!” she shrieked. She’d done her rainbow-pastel hair in pigtails for this. 

“What? Who are you?”

“You’ve gotta help me find my mother! MOOM, MOOOOOM!” 

“Shut up, we’ll help you find your mother!”

Neil took the opportunity to dash on set.  
~

Dobson held an enormous cookie in front of Nicky and Seth. “Look at this cookie.”

Nicky was stunned for a second. “That’s a big cookie.” commented Seth. 

“What kind is it?” Nicky asked.

“Chocolate chip.” replied Dobson. She inhaled, “Mm, still warm. Would either of you boys like to have this cookie?” 

“Well, I-“ Nicky began. 

“Give me the cookie!” yelled Seth.

“Hecanhaveit.” said Nicky immediately.

“Nicky,” said Dobson. “You want this cookie, don’t you?”

“Yeah but if Seth wants it-“

“Tell Seth you want the cookie.” Dr. Dobson put a lot of force behind her words.

“Iwantrhecookie.” Nicky whispered.

“What did you say?” Seth demanded. 

“Nothing!”

“Say it louder.” said Dobson.

“NOTHING!” Nicky yelled.

“No. Tell him you want the cookie.”

Nicky shot a panicked look at Dobson, who gave him a reassuring one. He turned to stare straight into Seth’s eyes. “I. WANT. THE COOKIE!”  
~

“...that’s when you fire the crossbow.” said the Director.

“Yeah.” said the guy. “Wait. What’s my cue?”

“When Kathy yells “get out”.”  
~

Neil approached Kathy Ferdinand, who was applying lotion to her arms. “Kathy? Kathy?”

Kathy looked up. “Ugh. Who let you on the stage?”

“Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have corrected you-“

“Michael!” she called out.

“No, we don’t need Michael. Look, I’m sorry, but could you just give Kevin his part back? It’s not his fault—“

“Get out!” Kathy exclaimed. A plastic arrow came out of nowhere and sliced through her hand.  
~

“Good,” said Dobson. “Now finish the cookie.” 

Nicky put the last piece of the cookie in his mouth, chewing slowly. Seth was facing him, forced to watch the whole thing. 

“...and now that you see you can stand up to Seth.” finished Dobson.

“Cause I got the cookie.” said Nicky. He grinned.  
~

After Kathy was wheeled away on a stretcher, Neil was left on set, feeling awful. Not because of Kathy Ferdinand, she’d gotten what was coming to her as far as he was concerned. But he’d come all this way and hadn’t been able to make things right for someone he cared about. 

“.. and we’re gonna have to recast her role.” said the Director, who’d just recounted all the details of his call with Kathy’s manager. “Thanks to him.” he pointed at Neil.

Neil's stomach tightened. “Listen guys, I really didn’t mean to-“ 

“Thank god!” one of the other actors exclaimed. 

“We all hated her!” said the Director. “What is your name?”  
~

Neil was in a good mood as he walked through the hallway. He found Kevin next to his locker. “Hi Kevin.” 

Kevin turned. “Neil Josten.”

“That’s me.” said Neil.

“You sure you're not Alex Johnson?”

“You got the call.” Neil was so relieved.

“I’m back on the movie.” said Kevin.

Neil was not a hugger, but he thought about what it would be like to hug Kevin just then. He thought about those large hands in his hair, for longer than they’d been yesterday. He felt a strange sensation in his chest. Then Andrew came over. “Hey,” he said to Kevin. Then he nodded at Neil. “Neil.” His hazel eyes were apathetic, but Neil knew the acknowledgement was the closest he’d get to a “thanks” from the blonde. The sensation intensified. Andrew turned back to Kevin. “If you want to cut class, let’s get off campus. Otherwise we’re late.” Kevin nodded, glancing at Neil before the two men left. Neil was so confused...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me @monstermetaphor on tumblr and pinterest for more kandreil and aftg related content, as well as many other fandoms.


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